A Whole Lot of Geoff Johns in my Reviews!

Well!  That was an interesting fifth week for a change!  And out of  the six books that I bought, four of them were written by Geoff Johns.  There was a LOT of rather hasty tieing up of lose ends going on.


Aquaman #12

Well, Black Manta has found a really nice sceptre, Dr Shin is really really sorry, and Arthur's merry band has enlisted Mera on their quest to save him from himself.  It goes....about as well as could be expected.  Aquaman is still really mad at Black Manta, who in return is trying to kill all of them, and  naturally, somebody dies.  And he was so nice too!  Ivan Reis's artwork is sublime as usual.  I do confess that I am looking forward to seeing how all this turns out.

The Flash Annual

Dang, this is so pretty.  And so fun.  It has the Rogues, being...well roguish, which is always a good time.  I just love Captain Cold in ANY universe for some reason.  This explains why Golden Glider is all cranky, and how the Rogues got their powers, and how it all backfired so badly.  I do feel that Barry is being just a little bit naive, actually thinking that Cold will uphold his part of the bargain, but Barry is such a nice person, I guess I can understand how he keeps falling for this sort of thing.

Well done indeed.

Green Lantern Annual

Egad!

Justice League #12

Well...they catch the bad guy, expose his baddiness, and all is well that ends well, except that the group seems to be splintering, and hey, Steve Trevor isn't dead after all, which is a good thing.  But Hal decides to leave, because quite frankly, he can do without all the crap, although that makes Barry sad.  Aquaman and Batman go for a little "quien as mas macho" talk and Wonder Woman sits at Steve Trevor's bedside, and doesn't listen to a word that he says, which is rather unlike her.  He tells her how he really feels, and she just brushes it all off, and goes to brood on the roof.  Superman decides to go brood a little too,and they completely miss Hal leaving, because they are too busy deciding to brood together.  Or something.  Then they decide, the hell with it, and do a little tonsil diving.

Meanwhile, Amanda Waller shows up at Grave's prison and says she believes him, and wants him to write down how to defeat the Justice League..just in case.

Sheesh.

I guess this explains why they don't miss Hal for a while, but Diana and Clark both come off as rather self-absorbed whiners.


Justice League International Annual

Well, I knew that the quasi-happy ending that we were given by Dan Jurgens was just too good to last, because Geoff Johns, who is writing this book, immediately goes about breaking up our motley crew, by having Guy stomp off in a snit, after two new members show up, mainly Blue Beetle and some guy called The Olympian, who apparently has some sort of past with Godiva.

Booster is a bit nonplussed at Guy's fedupedness, but has to deal with the fact that things aren't going nearly as well as he had planned.  Omac turns out to have been retaken over by Brother Eye, and is Up To No Good.  He rips the good General in Iron's head off, when he asks what he's doing, and then starts beating the crap out of everyone else.  The Olympian talks a lot, but goes down pretty quickly, and Omac gets rid of poor Jaime, by sending him off to the Reach, which actually was pretty smart.

Finally, it is between Booster and Omac, since Booster told Godiva to get the heck out of the way, and she does, after a nice little smooch.  Omac is busy gloating about how dumb Booster is, but Booster, just downloaded Skeets into Omac's system, and it works as an anti-virus, so Kevin gets his body back, which is nice, and Omac runs off to sulk.

Then...things get interesting.  Future Booster shows up!  Woohoo!  And he's telling Booster that he's got to stop Wonder Woman and Superman from kissing!  It is obviously an affront to nature, and Rip had sent Future Booster back to stop it.  Too bad, he's not in time, and both Boosters fade away.

 

Arrghh!

No more Booster Gold?  It Can't Be!  On the other hand...Rip Hunter!

Finally, we end up with Batman talking to Cyborg's dad, and then he goes off to confront Brother Eye, who sneers at him and says that he has a new master, and they're all in deep deep doodoo.

So.  No more JLI.  I'm crushed.  On the other hand, the ones that I care about got out of it alive, and with all of their extremities.  But Booster fades away!  On the other hand, Rip!  I'm beginning to think that Godiva may be Rip's mother, but who knows?  And Batman doesn't seem to be too worried, and nobody even goes to look for Booster, which is odd.

But obviously, Wonder Woman and Superman getting together will crack the Universe in two.



And finally...

Journey Into Mystery #642

It seems like forever since this last came out.   Surtur is up to No Good, and is running about inciting various realms to rebel.  He's got the Vanir all pissy at the Aesir.  The new Machine Gods, are confused, and Loki is confessing all that he's been up to, to Thor.  Yes, when you put all of his actions together, they don't look good...but really, he DID have the best of intentions.  And we all know where good intentions lead.

What is really strange is that Volstagg and Fandral start yelling at Freyja and trying to stir up trouble, which is rather unlike them, so I would suspect that more than a little bit of mind control is going on somewhere.  Thor is getting more than a little bit frazzled, trying to piece it all together and get everyone to calm down, but that's not happening anytime soon.

Dang it, I love this book.  Naturally, they are going to be giving it to Sif pretty soon, which is...ok I guess.  I like Sif too.  But I do adore baby Loki, and I really REALLY hope that they aren't going to do anything terrible with him.  But I don't trust my luck in that department.

I'll babble more about Green Lantern tomorrow.  But...Wow!

More Bad Art

Today was a tough one.  Firstly, I went to my Guy Gardner folder, to find a bad piece of art showing Guy.  And...and there weren't any! It is as though once the artist picks Guy as a subject, their art AUTOMATICALLY improves! 

True fact.

Then I went through the Green Lantern folder, and was also having something of a hard time.  However, I think that I have struck paydirt.



I actually am cheating a bit with this one, because the actual ART is not bad at all.  The SUBJECT matter on the other hand, is truly horrendous.  This was back during Millenium, and somehow, poor Hal had stumbled upon the Guardians and the Zamarons..."doing" it. 

Oh, the horror!

This is also probably the REAL reason that the Guardians booted Hal out of the corps.

And So it Goes

I really have nothing better to do with my time, than to go spelunking through my photobucket.  You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I have hidden away!



Now here we have Kyle dancing with his arms over his head.  That's the sort of thing that Kyle would do.  But that poor poor woman.  She's practically a candidate for Ami's site over at Escher Girls!  Why oh why do artists draw women with these bizarre sway-backs?  Curves I can understand, but that's just painful.

Terrible Art Week

I think that it is time, for us to indulge in the forbidden fruit...of gawdawful artwork.  This is of course a very very subjective thing...what one person may absolutely love, another may loathe.  Some of my favorite artists include Pat Gleason, Ivan Reis, Doug Mahnke, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, Nick Cardy, Amanda Conner and Nicola Scott...and that is only a tiny tiny number of the artists that I adore, and is just off of the top of my head.

There are a lot of artists that I can't stand.  However, my hatred of their line work, has nothing to do with them personally, and I am sure that Rob Liefeld is a very nice person.  He just...can't draw.  And I used to really like Greg Land, until someone gave him a light box. 

My challenge therefore, is to go out and go through your saved pictures and photobucket and come up with some of the worst pieces of art that you can find.  It has nothing to do with the Characters, or the Story.  Just the Art.

Here's a little tidbit out of my dusty collection.



Good God.  Spidey has such an enormous behind in this rendering!  Considering the contortions that artists usually put poor Peter through, you would have thought they could have come up with something a little more flattering.  I don't even know who DID this! 

He'd never get picked to be in the Green Lantern Corps, I can tell you that.

Oh Hal

Sometimes it pays to just stick with the classics.



It isn't a butt shot, but it IS a head shot.  And for my money, those are just as good.

Well...almost.

Actual Reviews

I was feeling so sorry for myself yesterday, that I completely forgot to give you my scintillating reviews.  Onward then!

All-Star Western #12

Well, you knew pretty much in advance that Tallulah was going to bust out and save Jonah and Arkam's sorry tied-up butts.  But she did it in such a spectacular fashion!  Then Jonah teams up with Wayne,  and they go after the Crime Bible gang.  There are shootings, stabbings and beheadings.  All good clean western fun!  Plus Jonah and Tallulah keep making out in front of Arkham, which I find hilarious.

The backup story with Dr. Terrence Thirteen is also fun.


Fables #120

Man, this is getting a wee bit depressing.  Dare is stuck in Evil Toyland, trying to save Therese, who seems to be going bonkers.  He's heroic...she is...not. 


The Flash #12

Gosh, the art is so pretty in this.  Flash is trying to deal with the treachery of Dr. Elias, who has taken credit for Flash's good works, while blaming him for everything that went bad.  And speaking of treachery,  Captain Cold's sister is busting out the Rogues...except for Cold himself, and she does it in a rather amazing fashion.  I'm not quite sure that the Rogues really appreciate being busted out so magnificently, since they get a bit snarky about it, and Flash gets set up for the fall himself, but Cold DOESN'T die, and it is all just so very very pretty.



Green Lantern: New Guardians #12

Oh Sayd.  As the last not crazy Guardian, even you did some really terrible things.  It has been revealed that Sayd was the one who gathered all the various rings, in order to give them to Kyle, who apparently is the ONLY Lantern who is capable of using ALL of the rings...a feat that even the Guardians can't manage.  So a couple of people died...you have to break the eggs to make an omelet...right?  At least that is Sayd's take on things.  The others however are not quite so sure, especially poor St. Walker, who is simply appalled.

It turns out that when the Guardians zapped Ganthet, his conciousness cried out to Sayd, and she experienced the death of his soul...or so she says.  Her love for Ganthet lead her to go after Kyle and his handy dandy bunch of companions.  They DO end up saving Larfleeze, but the Weaponer manages to run off with the Orrery, and the rest of the Corps all get disgusted and fly off. 

Leaving Kyle stuck with Sayd.  Oh, this is going to be interesting. 

I still don't like the art all that much, but I do have to say that the storyline seems to be picking up a bit.


Justice League Dark#12

Well, who would have thought that Dr. Mist was the traitor?  He actually believes that Faust will restore his beloved wife?  What a putz!  The rest of the group keeps stumbling into traps set by Faust, Mist and one rather ambiguous figure, while Timothy Hunter reveals to Xanadu that he had it with Magic, and simply got rid of it all.  Which was probaby the smartest thing that he could have done.

I love the art in this, and I'm enjoying the story and the characters.

So...a small week, but not a bad week at all.

Where IS everybody?

Please indulge me while I do a little bit of whining.  It...it's because it's August isn't it?  Everyone is at the beach?  It's just that I'm so...so lonely.  And apparently, pathetic. 

So, to cheer myself up..




Oh yeah.  That does the trick.

Tastes Like Chicken!

Oh God. 

I want this.



Finny Friends...INDEED!

Green Lantern Corps #12

Well this is just swell.


Guy and John have just gotten themselves into a peck of trouble.  John kills another Green Lantern, the Alphas find out about it...set up by the Guardians, John is condemned to death, the Guardians manipulate the Alphas into performing the deed,  John is so wracked with guilt, that he's ready to BE executed.  Fortunately for him, he has Guy Gardner around to do his thinking for him, and naturally, Guy busts him out.  When the Alphas go bananas, they start attacking ALL the Lanterns, and all hell just breaks lose. 

So Guy and John sneak down to the basement of Oa, and set lose all of the Guardians former mistakes, and now the Manhunter thingies are attacking the Alphas, and gosh, but life is just fabulous!  There certainly is never a dull moment when you are a Lantern.

Well, the Alphas, as crazy as they have become, are no pushovers, and they do manage to shut everyone else down, including Guy and John, and then having one-track minds, they get ready to start executing again.  If there is one thing that an Alpha seems to enjoy, it is a good execution.  All, that is, except for Varix, who is the one Alpha Lantern, who hasn't gone completely bonkers.  So, he manages to help Guy and John get lose, and the first thing our intrepid duo does...is rip the Lanterns right out of the chests of some of the Alphas!

That had to hurt. 

It certainly gets everyone's attention though, including the rest of the Alphas, who are still trying to kill somebody...anybody.  Fortunately for Guy and John and the rest of the Corps, Varix is on their side, and helps take out the rest of the Alphas.  But he's sad about it, and before Guy or John can stop him, he blows off his OWN head!

Sheesh! 

It's starting to look like the final scene from Hamlet on Oa.  Guy and John  have had enough,and they gather up ALL of the Lanterns, who's rings were drained, and scoop them up to fly them up to the main Battery to recharge...when they hear a Voice...demanding to be let out...and their rings suddenly conk out and they all start to fall!  Fortunately, their rings get power back after a second or two, but it is an odd moment, and the rings cannot identify the voice.

Then Morro presides over a nice ceremony in the crypts, and all of the Alphas, who after all, were pretty fabulous Lanterns before they got screwed by the Guardians, are honored.  There is a rather interesting moment when Guy points out that there are an awful lot of their old buddies floating around in effigy over their heads, and John agrees.  I can only presume that this is one of those cunning little clues that Geoff  Johns and Pete Tomasi like to sprinkle through the books.  I think that this may have some significance due to what is happening over in Green Lantern...but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

So...that is that.  And naturally, it is all going to the Guardian's own nefarious plans.  The Alphas have now been taken off of the board, so they can't interfere with the Guardian's plans.  Meanwhile Guy and John have gathered up the remains of the Manhunters and such, an dumped them back into the catacombs, with the comment that the Guardian's mistakes seem to be piling higher and higher and who is going to be next?  And it that isn't an ominous observation, then I don't know what is! 

The art was lovely as usual, Guy kicked butt, John kicked butt, the other Lanterns didn't kick quite as much butt, but did cheer them on, and the Alphas are no longer around to annoy me.  On the other hand, I can't help feeling sorry that Boodikka is now gone again, not to mention Green Man, and Chaselon and several others.  There aren't a whole lot of survivors from the Lost Lanterns anymore.

This whole new story, of the Third Army and the Guardians getting evil is starting to really pick up...and it looks as though it will be the usual exciting ride.

Green Lantern #12

Well, dip me in honey, this is a sweet sweet issue.  My only caveat, is that instead of the incomparable Doug Mahnke, we have the art by Renato Guedes.  He's...ok.  But it's not quite the same.

When last we met our intrepid duo, they had managed to lose Black Hand, who rather cleverly, decided to commit suicide, and next thing you know, he's a Black Lantern again.  In fact he is THE Black Lantern, as Nekron seems to be nowhere to be found.  He's dug up his family, and is having a nice chinese dinner with them, as he leafs through the Book of the Black, which very nicely, decides to transport Sinestro and Hal right to his doorstep. 

Black Hand is therefore, just a tad disconcerted, when all of the pages of the Book, spell out that..."Hal Jordan Is Not Your Enemy".  This is news to Black Hand.  It is also news to Hal and Sinestro.  Hal gets tired of Black Hand's antics and fries all of the synapses in his brain which knocks him out for a few minutes at least, as they try to take stock of what is going on.  They also remember how they took out the Black Lanterns the last time, and try to get a hold of Carol and her handy dandy pink ring, but she's not on the line.

Meanwhile, the Guardians are busy plotting.  Oh they are just so incredibly nasty, those little blue Meanies.  They admit that it took all of the colored Corps to take out the Black Lanterns, but as usual, it is always "What have you done for me LATELY" with this bunch, and they are bound and determined to do away with the various Corps...mainly because they can't be controlled.  And that includes their OWN Green Lantern Corps.  Truly, the Guardians have lost their tiny minds. 

What is really stunning, is that they are laying out their whole nefarious plan of attack.  They foolishly decide that Hal doesn't have a ring, so he's no threat.  Haw!  Little do they know!  They are gloating that Sinestro actually thinks he was chosen by the Green Ring, while they were the ones to managed that little trick, to confuse him.  They think that John is wracked with guilt over the death of Mogo, so they'll use that.  They have promoted Guy into thinking that he's just the Bee's Knees in the Corp, and when they pull the proverbial chair out from under him, his crash will be that much more dramatic.  They really don't know Guy very well either.  And finally, they figure that Kyle, their own formerly beloved Torchbearer, will be coming to rescue Ganthet.  Ganthet is sneering that he'll take care of Kyle himself.  Oh,and they don't like the Indigos either. 

They're going to replace EVERYBODY with their precious Third Army.  I hope that the Guardians really do get their comeuppance.  They really are a bunch of nitwits.

Back on Earth, Hal and Sinestro are trying to fend off the newly risen dead people, while Black Hand has regained his senses and is still poring over the Book.  Which now has a new page. A page which really throws him for a loop  Sinestro decides that he can sacrifice his yellow lantern.  Hal thinks this means that he's committing wholeheartedly to the Green, but Sinestro just sneers that he can always forge another one.
I love Sinestro.  And kaboom...they do it, the yellow and the green, destroys Black Hand's horde.

But it also knocks out Hal and Sinestro.  So they don't see what is written in the Book of the Black.

That Hal Jordan, will be the Greatest Black Lantern.

Gadzooks!

The plot is thickening quite nicely now.

Thursday's Reviews of Wednesday's Comics

Oh my goodness, what a lovely lovely week!  So much Green Lanterny fabulousness!  And the rest of it wasn't too bad either.

Batwoman #12

Man, has it been a year already?  This book continues to thrill the visual senses.  Kate is still looking for the missing kids, as are the Gotham Police, although they aren't having any luck. The cops that is, Kate has been through all kinds of stuff, and she's not giving up.  Although her relationship with Maggie isn't doing too well. 

But that scene with Bloody Mary was a tad chilling.  It's nice she had a werewolf around to help.  In the meantime, Wonder Woman is having an adventure of her own, that is paralleling Kates.  They don't actually meet up until the end of the issue, but egad, it is going to be...well...probably pretty wonderful.


Birds of Prey#12

Poison Ivy has infected the rest of the birds with a deadly virus and is using that to blackmail them into helping her put an end to polluters and such.  At least that's the theory.  Canary has agreed provided they don't actually hurt anyone, but with Poison Ivy around, you know that promise is going to get broken.  Ivy is out of control, the Birds are chafing, and some very bad things happen.

This was ok.  I think that it is actually moving a little slowly lately.



Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps #12

Oh  My God.

Shade #11

I have just been enjoying the piss out of this book.  I don't even see why it should be a mini-series, I would buy this on a monthly basis in a heartbeat. 

The faux Egyptian Gods/Aliens that the Shade incidentally freed last issue are on the rampage in London, which actually disturbs Dickie's sensibilities.  I get the impression that if they were rampaging through Atlanta or something, he wouldn't have really cared.  But his past dalliances with villainy aside, he does care about London, and he's been through a lot lately, and learned all kinds of very interesting things, and so he figures out a way to send them on their way. 

Oh, and he pays a final visit to his loathsome descendant Dudley.  Too bad for Dudley.

Fabulous!


Wonder Woman #12

I can't help but love this book.  It's not the REAL Wonder Woman, but gosh darn it, nothing in this current DC Universe actually IS real, and the art is so gorgeous, and the story is so off-the-wall and compelling that I am enjoying the heck out of it.

Apollo actually does ascend Zeus's throne, much to the surprise of Hera, who thought she had the perfect double-cross going on.  Zola has her baby, Diana kicks Artemis's butt, much to her surprise, Hera is ALSO very very surprised, and Hermes...well, Hermes is up to something.

Also fabulous.

Saga #5 and #6

Great Goggally Moogally!  I love this book! 

Marko finally does draw his sword, and boy howdy, that is one boy that you don't want to get mad!    The Will rescued a little girl from slavery, at least he thought he did, and the spider bounty hunter also gets a surprise, and then Marko and Alana and Hazel and their ghostly nanny make it to the grove of ships, and...well, you really should go out and find this and read it!

Insanely fabulous.

I had a REALLY good time this week!

And more about the Green Lanterns, because all KINDS of stuff is being set up here.

Ummmm

Well that's a brilliant title for this post, but seriously folks...I haven't a thought in my head, other than it is hot.  And humid.  And that I really don't like August very much.  At the moment I am looking forward to November.  And NOT just because then the election will be over!

So...what does one do without any ideas?



Hah! 

You thought I was going to show a picture of Hal getting hit in the head, or Guy's butt! 

Instead, here is the lovely Arisia, as drawn by none other than Pat Gleason.  I rather miss Arisia, she hasn't been seen in quite a while, and that is a shame.  At least she's still alive, which is something.

Happy Wednesday!

No More Olympics

Dang.  My Sweet Babboo is going to miss the Women's Beach Volleyball something fierce, I can tell you that.  Personally, I was enjoying the Men's Diving.  Some of those boys would have been qualified to be Green Lanterns!

Er...ahem. 

Where was I? 

Although I greatly enjoyed Tom Brokaw's Salute To Britain During The Second World War, I was a History major, and probably most people wondered why NBC wasn't showing...oh I don't know...the Closing Ceremonies.  Then they DID start showing the Closing Ceremonies, except they stopped for a while to show some sit-com, and then the news, and didn't show The Who until ungodly late, at which time I had already fallen asleep. 

However I understand that Eric Idle was quite the hit. 

So, congratulations to London for throwing one amazing party.  I don't really think that Brazil will be able to top the Queen parachuting from a helicopter. 

Reviews

Now that I have stopped having hissy fits, I can proceed to writing my reviews.  I am doing this for the SECOND time, because I made an error the first time, and in my own incompetence, managed to delete the COMPLETED version!

Gahhhh!

Anyway.

Batgirl #12

I haven't been loving this book very much, which does surprise me, since I do love Gail Simones, but this wasn't a bad issue.  It was nice to see Batwoman anyway.  There is a fair amount of double-dealing, treachery and skullduggery, but that seems fairly normal for Gotham.

Not bad.

Batman #12

Now this was pretty fabulous.  Scott Snyder stepped away from all of the Owl stuff, and focused on a new character, young Miss Harper and her brother Cullen, who live in Gotham and have had to undergo a lot of problems in their young lives.  She's not much impressed by Bruce Waynes' efforts at urban renewal, but they wind up being saved by Batman....and she's just smitten.  Since she works for the City, on maintaining the old and rickety electrical infrastructure, she manages to discover that Batman has his own system, that steals power from Wayne Enterprises, and in effect helps bolster the shoddy old Gotham system.

Harper repairs one of his boxes, and in trying to help, manages to get in some trouble, but it's all worth it, and it is a rather sweet story...at least for a Bat Book.

Excellent.

Batman & Robin #12

Oh be still my heart.  The finale of the battle with Terminus ensues, and all sorts of mayhem is going on.  Terminus is defeated, but so is Damian, when in swoop all of the rest of the Robins, to help out the Bat, and It Is On!  Terminus is dying but gloats that he still wins, because there is a bomb.  Obviously, he doesn't realize that for Batman, this is a piece of cake.  Bats saves the day naturally, and Damian takes great pleasure in taunting a dying Terminus.  And Nightwing casually tosses one of his escrima sticks over to Damian, saying he doesn't have to fight him for a trophy, and maybe to lighten up just a little.  It was a lovely moment, I really do miss having Damian be Dick's Robin. 

And there was this.


So...so fabulous.

Batwing #12

Sheesh, there are a lot of Bat books out this week!  Of course, you can say that about just about any week.

I only bought this because the JLI was on the cover, and they do a bang up job of helping Batwing fight Lord Battle and his thugs in the African nation of Tundi.  They are in this predicament, because apparently the Penguin has sold Lord Battle a nuke, and that's probably not a very good thing for him to have. 

They are getting their collective asses handed to them, when it eventually dawns on them that Lord Battle is a bit like Antaeus, and once they separate him from the land of Tundi, he loses power and everything starts to
wither.  Lord Battle decides he actually loves his country and comes back to save it, and sit in a cell and be good.  Naturally there is another bad guy ready to take advantage.

It has nice art, and I greatly enjoyed seeing Guy and Booster  fighting stuff.

Nice

Demon Knights #12

So, they are all in Camelot or a reasonable facsimile thereof, and it turns out that Morgaine Le Fey is behind it all.  Well...duh.  Morgaine Le Fey is ALWAYS behind it when it comes to Camelot stuff.  They all get captured, and escape and defeat her, but in the melee, the entrance to Avalon is destroyed, which for some
reason REALLY pisses Etrigan off.  And his true colors finally appear.

I do love this book.

Fairest #6

Wow!  Lumi is fighting Hadeon,  the bad fairy who was behind all the problems with Sleeping Beauty.  Lumi calls in the Good Fairies, which is a clever idea, except that they can't touch her, due to some inconvenient rules or something.  It looks as though Hadeon is going to win,when Briar Rose shows up and beats the crap out of her, for some rather unconventional reasons, and there...there is a Happy Ending!  The little genii is free, Ali Baba and Lumi are making goo goo eyes at each other, and Briar Rose ends up with some bitchin' wheels.

Very nice.

Resurrection Man# 12

Well, Mitch is fighting for his life, after being taken captive, and keeps hallucinating that the Justice League is killing him.  And you won't guess who is actually behind it all!  I honestly did not see that coming!

I'm going to msis this book something fierce.

The Mighty Thor #18

This is the prologue for "Everything Burns".  Things are already burning, as there are fires that even Thor can't put out, which makes him very cranky.   Freyja is having  bad dreams about her father and Odin, and Loki is confused by the death of the magpies, and other odd happenings.  He does help with Thor's burns, although Thor is being quite the baby about it. 

The art is by Alan Davis, and the story is fun, although I'm slightly confused because I thought that Odin was married to Frigga, not Freyja.  Oh well.

Is It A Full Moon?

Sweet Merciful Crap!  The Crazy people are out today!  They are certainly on the roads, with people going straight when they should be turning, turning when they should be going straight, moving into my lane when I happen to be occupying it, and so on and so forth.

I happen to work for a Tire Company, owned by two brothers that I like to call the Piranha Brothers Tire.  Doug, the older brother, is the actual boss, and he just lurked in his office today...as usual.  Dinsdale on the other hand was wound up a bit.  As in insanely.  Either he needed up UP his meds, or Lower them.  He began by picking fights with everyone within reach, drinking Red Bull by the case,  paging people to call him immediately, and then never getting off of the phone, picking MORE fights, and finally, this afternoon, exhausted, he sat and stared at his computer, while playing Disco Videos.  Loudly. 

Disco.

I hate Disco.  With a passion. 

So, while I would ordinarily be entertaining you all with my scintillating reviews of Wednesday's Comics, I will instead be contemplating drinking.  Heavily.  And maybe getting out my Ambush Bug or something, because Lord knows, I need something to laugh at. 

Disco.

Oh God.

What is going on with Hal?

I have to admit...I don't know WHAT the heck is going on with Hal Jordan lately.  And that uncertainty, while it certainly sells comic books is simply driving me crazy.  Well...crazier. 

Hal and Sinestro have been mindbogglingly fabulous in Green Lantern lately, and I'm enjoying the heck out of that book.  I find him considerably LESS appealing in Justice League, which is a bit confusing.  I could understand Hal being callow and inexperienced when the book first started, since it was supposed to be following a different Time Line.  He was a very new young Green Lantern, so it would make sense that he was a bit out of his depth.  However, I do believe that the Justice League has been together for Five Years now, and yet...he doesn't seem to have changed at all. 

I could understand this, if Green Lantern and Justice League were being written by different authors, but Geoff Johns is penning both books.  Maybe Hal is just weird when he's around people who aren't Green Lanterns?  Some people are perfectly fine with their co-workers, and socially inept with strangers.  Except that Hal has never been written as being socially inept, in fact, quite the opposite.  He was always portrayed as being quite the charmer.  Certainly he has always been a bit over-confident, even arrogant, but at least he was able to back it up.  And in Green Lantern, he is STILL being portrayed that way.  In Justice League however, he seems to have been voted the oaf. 

What is really making me uneasy however, is that in the NEW books coming out, there is a NEW Green Lantern...and no mention of either Hal or Sinestro.  Hal drives me nuts sometimes, but I AM extremely fond of him.  And God help me, I'm becoming quite enamoured of Sinestro as well.  He's a Rogue, but a darned interesting Rogue. 

I can't believe that Geoff Johns went to all the trouble of resurrecting Hal...and resurrecting him MAGNIFICENTLY...only to kill him off again after a few years.  Because let me tell you, I am getting really really sick and tired of killing off perfectly good characters.  If you don't want to use them...fine.  Don't use them.  But don't remove them from the game, because down the road someone else might have a use for them.  But I digress. 

What DOES interest me, is that all of a sudden, Guy seems to be getting a lot of the limelight.  The limelight that used to be occupied exclusively by Hal.  And since I am a wholehearted Guy Fan...this can only be a Good Thing. 

I think.  God knows what they are going to be doing to him.  I do know that a new origin story has been hinted at, and after the hatchet job that was done on Ice, I am extremely apprehensive.  But Guy's ascendancy is a story for another day. 


I guess what I am saying is...For the Love of God, please don't kill Hal again!  Or Sinestro.  I don't mind if you want to off the Guardians, with the exception of Ganthet and maybe Sayd, because they really are just terrible...but Not Hal!

Thank you.

Hot

Great Googally Moogally it's hot.  And muggy.  Muggy and hot.  God, I hate summer. 

Whenever I mention that Summer is perhaps my LEAST favorite season, people gape at me in shock, and start muttering that Summer is great, because that's when the tomatoes are ripe!

Here is another shocking admission.  I don't like fresh tomatoes either.  I love them cooked.  I like tomato sauce, tomato paste, sphagetti, all kinds of cooked tomatoes...but I absolutely and totally loathe them...fresh.

I don't quite know why.  They look so pretty.  So juicy, so round, so firm...so completely awful.  So I pick them out of my salads, my tacos, off of my sandwiches and hamburgers.  My Sweet Babboo, who LOVES tomatoes, is the happy beneficiary. 

I'm not quite sure where I am going this this...I was just going to comment that it was too hot to do much, when I got into a tangent on tomatoes.  And radishes.  I don't like radishes either.  But I do love lima beans.  And bleu cheese.  Although not necessarily together.

Anyway.

What we ALL love is gratuitous blows to the head.  And since Hal is presumably off nursing a headache somewhere, I thought that Batman could stand in for him today.


I know it makes ME smile.

Teeny Tiny Reviews

The beginning of the month, is always the smallest week for me.  And yet...there were some pretty decent comics out there this time.

Action Comics #12

I never even knew that Lois HAD a niece, much less one with superpowers.  And the bad guy has just had poor Lois get hit by a car, as he battles Superman.  Turns out HE was an alien who landed in a cornfield himself, but somehow things didn't turn out for him quite the way that they turned out for Clark.  He feels that he and the kid have been specially chosen, and that the rest of the earth's population are just...cattle at best. 

Superman is doing his best to fight, but having some problems, since this guy can mess with his mind.  So he empties his mind, and goes to town!  Defeats the bad guy, saves the kid, and rushes poor Lois to the hospital where he is informed that her injuries are too grave.  So he runs down to the hospital library, reads every book in 10 seconds or something, and comes back and performs his own surgery, using his own X-ray vision, heat vision, and every other kind of vision that there is, and making the surgeons feel very very inadequate. 

Then he goes home, and realizes that his landlady is from the same place as Mr. Mxyptleksllkjl;skdf or whatever, but she's been looking out for him, and puts a mind whammy on everyone, so that they don't think he died at all, because, as Batman said, Clark Kent did good too.

Whew!  I swear to God, by the time I was done with this, I was convinced that Grant Morrison was channeling Bob Haney for a while, because it had so much of that good old Silver Age insanity going on.  It was crazy...but I loved it. 


Justice League International #12

Well!  After defeating the bad guys last issue, the gang all shows up at Gavril's grave to pay their respects, when they get blindsided, by the grieving brother of Lightweaver, who was accidentally killed off last issue.  Lightweaver was a lunatic and a murderer, but Malik, his much nicer brother, is still blinded by rage and sorrow, and now HE has powers.  They had arrived, and were talking to Vixen and Ice, via Guy's ring.  Batman was lurking in the shadows, because...well that's what Batman does.  They weren't expecting to be attacked, so at first, Malik has them on the ropes, till Bats decides to throw a flash grenade and then punch him...and then talk to him. 

The rest of the League has regained their senses and their outrage, and point out that Lightweaver may have been his brother, and they regret his death, but HE was one of the terrorists who caused all the mayhem.  Malik, comes to his senses and apologizes and is ready to be hauled off to jail, when Guy of all people cuts him a break. 

They figure that they are about to disband, Booster is feeling pretty low, when Batman shows them that they have had a new headquarters built, and Queen Industries even let them have a new plane, although putting a "Don't Blow This One Up" sign in the cockpit was probably overkill.  So Booster is filled with renewed determination, the others decide they don't want to disband either, and although Batman and Batwing decide that they have other things to do, the Justice League will continue!  Even Guy admits that Booster isn't a complete loser, and he'll be staying around too.

Woohoo! 

I was getting ready to this book to end.  I was pretty sure that it wasn't on the list of books that DC was continuing, so I was VERY depressed.  There is also an annual coming out in four weeks.  But on the other hand, there isn't anything in the Previews of the JLI.  So...are they just toying with us?  Getting our hopes up, only to dash them to pieces in the Annual? 

Why are you toying with me, DC?

I like this book.  I like it better than the regular Justice League, and I adore most of the characters.  The DC Universe should never be Boosterless! 


Animal Man #12

I haven't been reading Animal Man, but it is crossing over with Swamp Thing, so I picked it up, and although I'm not up on much of what is happening, I guess that Buddy is the avatar of the Red, the same way that Alec is the avatar of the Green.  And weird things are going on, and they all troop out to the Swamp to meet Alec and Abby, and have their own cross over.

Swamp Thing #12

Buddy and Alec decide to go into this rift thing, to fight the Rot.  It turns out to be...A Trap!  And naturally enough Arcane is at the bottom of it.  Literally.  It's pretty creepy, but pretty good  actually.


Hawkeye #1

I picked this up on a whim.  I've always rather liked Hawkeye, although I'm certainly not reading much of Marvel anymore, with the exception of Thor and Journey Into Mystery. 

It...was pretty good!  Really fabulous art by David Aja, who rather reminds me of Chris Samnee.  An excellent story by Matt Fraction, that doesn't follow the usual Super Hero Standard Story at ALL.  Clint is getting out of the hospital after being banged up pretty bad, and heading home to Bedford-Styvesant, where his neighbors are upset, because their evil landlord is tripling their rents. 

Clint manages to get beat up, saves a dog, saves his neighborhood, gets beat up some more, and not a single avenger shows up, nor is he in costume, and he never even takes his bow out. 

But a heckuva story nevertheless.  I think I just may stick with this one.



And that's that.  I hoped you all enjoyed YOUR comics this week!